Aircraft are frequently powered by turbine engines. Turbine engines (also referred to as gas turbines) are a type of internal combustion engine that have an upstream rotating compressor coupled with a downstream turbine and a combustion chamber in-between where fuel is injected and combusted to create pressurized exhaust having a high velocity. As air enters the turbine engine, fuel is added and ignited using a suitable ignition system, such as a capacitive discharge ignition (CDI) system. The capacitive discharge system includes an exciter that generates a spark discharge at an igniter in the combustion chamber to ignite the fuel. Typically, the exciter portion of the capacitive discharge ignition system creates this spark discharge using a spark-gap gas-discharge tube (SGT). The SGT includes two electrodes that are spaced apart by an air or spark gap in the presence of an inert gas. The SGT is electrically connected between an igniter and a storage capacitor receiving a charge from a power source. When the voltage of the storage capacitor exceeds the trigger voltage of the SGT, the SGT starts to conduct thus delivering the stored energy from the capacitor ultimately causing the igniter to spark.
In a typical SGT construction, both of the electrodes of the SGT are enclosed and sealed from the atmosphere within a glass housing, which also includes a gas that facilitates a stable voltage level to release energy thereby creating a spark at the igniter. Many SGTs use a radioactive inert gas to maintain ionization within the SGT. The use of a glass SGT with radioactive gas fill may present risks due to glass component breakage and gas leakage, thereby affecting the CDI system operation.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an alternative component that provides the functionality of a SGT without the associated risks of breakage and leakage. Further, it would be desirable to provide an alternative component that provides consistent sparking voltages supplied to the igniter.